James Neal agrees to a fiveyear deal with Calgary
The Calgary Flames have added a much-needed sniper to their lineup while cementing their top-six forward core, signing proven scorer James Neal.
The deal is worth US$28.75 million over five years with an annual average salary of $5.75 million.
Neal is coming off a run to the Stanley Cup final with the Vegas Golden Knights, putting up 25 goals and 44 points in 71 regular-season games before adding six goals and 11 points in 20 post-season games.
The 30-year-old winger has reached the 20-goal mark in each of his 10 NHL seasons and produced a career-high 40 goals in 2011-12. He has 263 goals and 495 points in 703 career games.
Neal can either slide right into Calgary's top line alongside Johnny Gaudreau and centre Sean Monahan or play second line with centre Mikael Backlund and Matthew Tkachuk.
Calgary missed the playoffs last year for the seventh time in nine seasons in large part due to its lack of scoring.